From Under the Cork Tree

Before becoming one of the most obnoxious bands in modern music with albums throughout the 2010s, particularly the most recent release M A N I A, Fall Out Boy saw commercial success throughout the mid 2000s. That all mainly began because of the hits that came off of From Under the Cork Tree, with the massive singles Dance, Dance and Sugar, We’re Going Down featured on the early parts of this album. For anyone who grew up during this time, the music videos of both songs and the songs in of themselves were completely inescapable. Little did people know, this album is actually a hugely successful affair across the board.

One of the most listened to albums of my childhood, From Under the Cork Tree features far more than the notable singles, consisting of some of the most essential pop punk bangers of all time. The vocal stylings Patrick Stump completely overshadow the huge personality that was Pete Wentz, who took the success of this album and spread it wide across every artist he could on the label Fueled By Ramen. Seriously, if it wasn’t for the success of this record many pop punk and emo acts that existed for the next few years would have never seen exposure, and that’s largely thanks to Wentz. However, shockingly the instrumentals across this album are often just as exhilarating as Stump’s voice, with driven guitar sounds and fast-paced drum lines.

Importantly as well, the wit of the group and the creativity of their songwriting glistened throughout this record. Their song titles are excessively long, adding some humor and personality to the act, and the lyrical content throughout is some of the best written of any pop punk band in memory. That the lyrical content is paired with the powerful and recognizable voice of Stump just makes this album even more essential for a pop punk fan.

The fact that Fall Out Boy saw the success that they did is still quite the anomaly in my mind, but the massive wave of impact was felt for years following. The entire genre and scene was changed by this one album, and thankfully it still holds up on its own even fifteen years since its inception, even if the scene effectively died along with Fall Out Boy themselves over the years. This was thanks to bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, the two arguably most notable acts of their time, shifting their sound and everyone following suit. At least there was still a glory days for the genre, and this is it right here.

Favorite track: Sugar, We’re Going Down